The wall display kept cycling through angles that all showed the sa thing from different distances. Aurex club sealed behind layers of armored cordons, drones hovering in fixed patterns, heavy units holding streets that had already been emptied. The anchors talked in careful tones, repeating confird facts and avoiding speculation, while text scrolled beneath them faster than any voice could keep up.
Arlen stood close to the screen, arms wrapped around herself inside Xavier's jacket, eyes locked on the footage like she might miss sothing if she blinked.
"That's him," she said finally, voice tight. "That has to be him."
Rin didn't look away from the screen. "Yeah," he said. "Pretty sure it is."
Klatos turned toward them sharply. "You're saying this like it's normal," he snapped. "Why would he do this now? We planned to settle and handle everything quietly tomorrow night. So why would he do sothing so reckless?"
Arlen nodded fast, panic pushing into her words. "He went alone. He didn't say anything. Why would he do sothing like this by himself when we were ready to handle it together."
Rin shifted on the edge of the chair, still watching the footage, expression more curious than afraid. "Because that was the plan," he said. "Just not the one we were invited to."
Arlen turned on him. "That doesn't make sense. He's inside that building. You're seeing the sa thing we are. As soon as they find him, they'll kill him. It doesn't matter how strong he is if they throw an army at him."
"They already did," Rin replied. "And they're still standing outside."
Klatos dragged a hand down his face and looked back at the screen, focusing on the scrolling reports instead of the visuals. "They haven't breached," he said slowly. "They're scanning. Remote sensors. Thermal sweeps. Motion analysis. None of it's clean."
Arlen shook her head. "Fire and smoke," she said. "Of course it's not clean."
"That's not what I an," Klatos replied. "They're hesitating."
Rin glanced at him then, interest sharpening. "Why would they hesitate?"
Klatos didn't answer right away. His eyes stayed on the feed as another update slid past, repeating the sa line again with slightly different wording.
Velkhar Dro — confird deceased.
"They haven't gone inside," Klatos said. "So how did they confirm that?"
As if the question had been waiting for air, the feed stuttered.
The cara angle shifted, grainy and offset, clearly not official. A drone floated into view above the cordon, its chassis scorched, stabilizers working harder than they should have been. Sothing hung beneath it, suspended by a reinforced clamp.
Arlen's breath caught.
The drone rotated once, slowly enough for the cara to catch the shape clearly. Velkhar's head swung into view, blood matted into his hair, face frozen in an expression that hadn't made it to fear. The base of the neck was torn and uneven, flesh dark and slick where it had been separated.
The feed cut two seconds later.
The room went silent except for the hum of the display.
Arlen pressed a hand to her mouth, eyes wide, panic breaking through fully now. "Oh my god," she whispered. "He actually—"
Klatos stared at the blank screen where the image had been. "They didn't confirm it," he said. "They were shown."
Rin leaned back slightly, exhaling through his nose. "Told you," he said. "He doesn't do things halfway."
Arlen shook her head, voice rising again. "This is insane. They're going to tear that place apart. They're going to lock the city down. He can't just walk out of sothing like this."
Rin finally looked at her. "You're thinking like this is his first ti," he said. "It's not."
The screen flickered back to official footage, anchors struggling to regain control of the narrative as alerts stacked on top of each other. Outside the hotel room, Helior Pri stayed sealed and silent, holding its breath around a cri that wasn't supposed to happen.
Rin didn't look away from the screen when they turned on him.
Arlen turned to Rin and asked, "Did you know about any of this? If Xavier had said anything at all?"
Klatos followed imdiately, asking the sa question in fewer words, frustration riding every syllable.
Rin shook his head once. "He never tells ," he said. "He doesn't tell anyone. He does what he wants and then expects us to catch up."
"That's not reassuring," Arlen shot back.
"It is when it's him," Rin replied. "Every ti he does sothing that looks stupid from the outside, it's because he already ran the outco in his head. He doesn't move unless he's sure he's winning."
Klatos folded his arms, feathers bristling. "And how exactly is he walking out of that?"
Rin leaned back slightly. "I don't know," he said. "That part I'm curious about too."
Outside the Aurex Club, the cordon held its shape.
Armored units stayed locked in position, rifles trained on the blackened entrance while drones hovered overhead, optics fighting smoke and heat that refused to clear. Fire crews had been ordered back. No one crossed the line without authorization that hadn't co yet. Every command channel waited for confirmation that still hadn't stabilized.
"Visibility still compromised."
"Thermal is useless past the first layer."
"Bio-readings are overlapping. Too much noise."
Fire crews had stopped advancing. d units had pulled back. No one crossed the threshold anymore. The injured who had escaped and the civilians who had run away as soon as Xavier began attacking were treated accordingly.
A voice cut across the command net.
"Movent detected inside. Approaching the main exit."
Weapons ca up in unison. Targeting arrays aligned. ch fras adjusted stance, servos whining as they prepared to fire. Every barrel pointed at the shattered doorway, fingers tight on triggers, ready to turn whatever stepped out into debris.
Sothing moved in the smoke.
A figure erged first, hands raised, clothes torn and soaked dark with blood that wasn't all his.
It was Xavier.
He walked forward steadily, coughing once as he cleared the threshold.
"Contact," soone shouted. "Single—"
The shout died when more figures followed him out.
One after another, people stumbled through the smoke with their hands raised, faces sared, clothes ruined, moving in a loose cluster that looked more like survivors than attackers. So limped. So leaned on each other. None carried weapons.
"Hold fire," the field commander barked. "Civilians present."
Units shifted formation, tightening instead of advancing. Floodlights snapped on, washing the group in harsh white glare as armored soldiers moved in to surround them without lowering their guns.
"Separate them," the commander ordered. "Reports say a male attacker. Split by sex. Start scans."
The group was divided quickly, n pulled to one side, won to the other, all of them kept under watch while portable scanners powered up. Drones dipped lower, running layered sweeps, biosigns, thermal profiles, anomaly detection.
Xavier stayed toward the back of the male group, shoulders slightly hunched, hands still raised, face bare now and streaked with blood. No mask. No visible gear. Just another man pulled out of a disaster zone.
A soldier squinted at him. "You," he said, leveling his rifle. "Step forward. Now."
Xavier did.
"Scan him first," the soldier added. "If he moves, drop him."
The scanner swept over Xavier from head to toe, lights flickering as it cycled through its checks. A second device joined it, then a third, overlapping passes to rule out error.
"Reading's clean," the tech called out after a pause. "Full human. No visible augnts. No internal modifications flagged."
The commander frowned. "Run it again."
They did.
The result didn't change.
Xavier stood there quietly, breathing steady, eyes unfocused like he was still sowhere else entirely. Around him, soldiers exchanged looks that didn't match the tension they were supposed to be feeling. This wasn't what the feeds had promised them.
"Clear him," the commander said finally. "Move on."
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